Sanity trial for Oceanside man who stabbed mom is delayed

In September 2011 a jury found Adam Brown guilty of first degree murder for plunging a kitchen knife into his mother’s head as she sat on the edge of her bed.

Adam Brown, now 47, is the youngest of nine children of Leonore Brown, who was 77 years old when she died on June 8, 2008.

Adam Brown was the one who took care of his ailing mother, he lived in the room next to hers, in the same Oceanside home where she raised her family. At least four of Adam's siblings attended his murder trial, and some expressed sympathy for youngest-brother Adam, explaining that mom Lee could have a sharp tongue and that she was “the boss.”

The same jury that found Brown guilty of murder more than a year ago, was deadlocked on the sanity issue. The retrial on that matter was scheduled for last week, on May 6, but has been delayed again until this summer.

During the murder trial in 2011, a medical examiner testified that he found the knife so deeply imbedded into the woman’s skull that he could not extract it manually, from the outside. Dr. Christopher Swalwell said this was “relatively unusual.” The doctor said the victim did not die instantly, but probably survived for some “minutes” afterwards; he noted cut wounds across the fingers of both her hands.

The day after the stabbing, Adam Brown presented himself to deputies who were working at the downtown courthouse. “He said he was there to turn himself in ‘cause he killed his mom,” Deputy Asani Minami told the jury. “I asked him if he had the knife and he said no, it was still in her.”

Oceanside Police found the deceased woman lying on her back, a blood-spattered crossword puzzle at her feet and her bloodied reading glasses on her shoulder.

Public defender Daniel Segura will have the burden of proof during a trial to determine the defendant’s sanity.